I can tell this House that we are fully committed to all of our FPT tables, and we are fully engaged with all the topics that are brought up at these tables. I can provide the Member with updates as we move along on this important file.
I look forward to him providing updates, and if he needs, I can also provide advice. I also spoke about the CRTC Broadband Fund, $750 million to narrow the gap between Internet access in rural and urban communities. What are we doing, what is this government doing, to prepare our submissions? They will start looking at submissions in 2019. What are we doing do get ready for that?
This is a new broadband fund that will provide $750 million across Canada for the first five years to support projects to build or upgrade infrastructure to provide fixed or mobile wireless broadband Internet service to unserviced Canadians. This new program is still in development, and the CRTC has noted that resources for applicants will be made available in the coming months, including application guide, application forms, and maps, and it is expected to have this funding start to roll out in 2019.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It sounds like pretty soon they are going to start getting the criteria and start developing their applications, and I encourage the Minister to come to committee for some ideas on how we would like to see that application roll out.
I would also like to ask: all across North America now, communities are installing their own fibre optic infrastructure so that they can own the infrastructure and sell access to the Internet. It is being done where it doesn't make sense for a company, economically, to invest that type of money, yet it turns out that it is often a money-generating proposal for communities.
Will the Minister commit to working with MACA, working with the municipalities, when he is making the submission so that we can get all of our communities connected? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I can fully commit to doing that, plus I also fully commit to working with any individual entrepreneur that wants to look at doing this.
At the same time, I want to talk about what Northwestel has already done lately. They have recently gone to the same department I said, got an application together, and did the Connect to Innovate fund. They got some money out of that. They are working on that right now, and that funding is going to be actually to help build a fibre optic backbone to the community of Jean Marie, which is what they are working on. They are also working to extend satellite connections in the following nine remote communities, beginning in April 2019; Colville, Gameti, Lutselk'e, Paulatuk, Sachs, Trout, Ulukhaktok, Wekweeti, and Old Crow.
We will work with everybody who wants to take this opportunity to build connected communities. I think this is very important for us, as we all know that the previous government invested in the fibre optic line, which we had the opportunity to open. We spent $90 million on that. This is going to help bring communities together and bring them access out to the world and businesses and, also, broaden our knowledge economy in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's statement, I have a few questions for the Premier.
Can the Premier start by giving us a brief update on his government's work to fulfill its commitment to advance, finalize, and implement land resources and self-government agreements, particularly with the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement and the Inuvialuit Final Agreement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is engaged in self-government negotiations with the Gwich'in and the Inuvialuit.
Inuvialuit self-government negotiations concluded an agreement in principle in 2015. Negotiations to conclude an Inuvialuit final self-government agreement are under way. Gwich'in self-government negotiations are presently set to restart following recent decisions by the Gwich'in on how they wish to move forward.
The Government of the Northwest Territories conditions to fulfill its obligations under both the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement and the Inuvialuit Final Agreement. Obligations to both are either complete, ongoing in nature, or being addressed by the parties through tripartite implementation committees.
The Gwich'in Implementation Committee meets three times per year to discuss, plan, and initiate activities that support the implementation of the land claim. The GNWT meets two times per year with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, the Inuvialuit Game Council, Canada, and the Yukon Government to discuss activities related to the implementation of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
What direction has the Premier given his Cabinet to foster government-to-government relationships in the department's regular business?
Through respect, responsibility, and recognition of the Government of the Northwest Territories' commitment to collaborative and cooperative relationships with Indigenous governments, this government has worked to advance positive working relationships at all levels. Ministers are active partners in the bilateral meetings between the Government of the Northwest Territories and Indigenous governments. They are fundamental to our government-to-government relationships.
Can the Premier commit to providing me with a written briefing on the status of the implementation of both the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement and the Inuvialuit Final Agreement?
I would be pleased to provide the Member with a written briefing on the implementation of both the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement and the Inuvialuit Final Agreement.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, part of my Member's statement was talking about daycares. I have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
In April 2018, the federal government announced $7 million dedicated to childcare in the NWT. I'm wondering if there are any plans yet for where some of that money will go and if any of that money would be allocated to communities in Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Canada and Northwest Territories Early Learning and Childcare Bilateral Agreement was signed. Within that agreement, it's not really designated for communities as much, but within the terms of early childhood development where they have extra money to top up our money, we will be using that for providing things like we are doing ECD, or early childhood development. There used to be a certificate program. We are now doing a diploma program with Aurora College. We have increased our scholarships for people trying to get into early childhood development. It used to be 10 with the territorial funding. Now it is 30 with the federal funding. We have improved our training, as well. We have allocated the monies to areas in early childhood development, but we haven't actually allocated per community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to ask the Minister if there are any plans toward creating a universal daycare program in the NWT?
At this time, no, we are not looking at a universal daycare program. I want to say that we actually have really subsidized, and I need to actually do some more work on the breakdown of how that looks like. We give money to the daycares directly to subsidize for it, so that they can have lower costs for children. That's based on if they are infants, or the age of the children. The younger the child, the more money daycare providers actually get. We give money to parents. If parents can't afford the daycare or subsidies or the daycare costs, they can come in if they are lower-income and actually get subsidies on top of that from the Education, Culture and Employment. We give money to the workers on a quarterly basis. They provide their attendance sheets. They provide their work, and actually we provide the daycare workers with a subsidy as well to top up their wages.
We are subsidizing both the daycares, the parents, and the workers. I'm not sure, Mr. Speaker, but I think we are doing a lot.
I would like to ask the Minister if the department has a group or groups of people who are working for the department who will assist community groups in establishing daycares for it where daycares don't currently exist.
Yes, absolutely. Actually, getting daycares into the communities is a priority. It's a mandate within this government, the 18th Legislative Assembly. We have 11 communities that don't have daycares, although we are working with a couple of them. Some of them aren't in the Member's ridings. Yes, we have regional coordinators who will go in and support anyone in the communities who is looking up to open up a daycare. We have start-up money. We have health and safety money.
Like I have said, we provide subsidies for the daycares directly. There's a lot of support. We need daycares. There's lot of research that says that, if we can provide early intervention, we have better success for children, so we will do whatever we can to support communities that don't have daycares to get them into their communities. Yes, ask, and we shall help.
Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's good news. Mr. Speaker, within that specific area where we have individuals working for the department who can establish daycares, we have a daycare and we also have some other programs for individuals where children go to, similar to daycares. I'm wondering if that money could also be used where those people could also be to assist daycares that currently exist to enhance the programs that the current daycares are offering. Thank you.
At this time, no, we are not supporting extra money for people to come in. I think it would be huge. It's a great idea. However, in honesty, it would be huge on daycares. That's based on my background with running daycares. It's that they use volunteers from all over the communities. It's powerful. The centre that I ran, they had speech pathologists coming in and, you know, people from Health and Social Services. We had elders coming in. We have parents coming in. If we started to support, it would be a matter of picking and choosing which ones get money and which ones don't. At this time, we are not doing that. There are other programs that actually support those kinds of endeavours. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Can he tell us how the Federal Poverty Reduction Strategy will impact poverty in the NWT? Can he estimate how many people will move out of poverty by 2020? Thank you.
Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is a federal government strategy, so I can't say exactly how many people the federal government strategy might move out of poverty, but I can talk a little bit about the work that we are doing with the federal government.
As the Member has already indicated, the federal government's poverty reduction strategy sets out an official measure of poverty for Canada using the market basket measure. They are actually going to change it and call it "Canada's official poverty line." The market basket measure is a measure, as the Member, I'm certain, is aware, through the Canadian Income Survey, which has traditionally excluded the Northwest Territories.
I was happy to see that the new strategy actually commits to extending the Canada Income Survey so that the poverty line can be measured and reported in the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Nunavut. I'm happy to say that Statistics Canada has already initiated a review of the market basket measure which will be completed by the end of the 2018-2019 fiscal review. Their review will include consideration of the unique cost of living in the northern territories, with the possibility that the market basket measure will be tailored, hopefully tailored, to reflect northern realities.
I'm happy to say that the Bureau of Statistics; Education, Culture, and Employment; and Health and Social Services are participating in that review. In fact, we have staff in Ottawa this week participating in some workshops around this.
We are hoping, Mr. Speaker, or we are intending that, in next week's anti-poverty roundtable, there will a presentation on the Canada Poverty Reduction Strategy delivered by representatives from Employment and Social Development Canada. There is a session on the development of the northern market basket measures that will also be held. I think this is a going to be an important discussion. It's going to be led by the Bureau of Statistics with input from Statistics Canada.
Mr. Speaker, we are hopeful that the northern basket will be implemented following the review. If it is not, it is still going to be a benefit for the Northwest Territories to be included in the Canadian Income Survey and the national reporting on the official poverty line. This will allow us in the Northwest Territories to measure progress in reducing poverty against other jurisdictions, as well as national results. The NWT has established, as the Member knows, 23 of our own indicators that we are using to assess poverty here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate that response. The Minister said there is a presentation next week at the anti-poverty roundtable on the Federal Poverty Reduction Strategy. Can he not tell us what impact this strategy will have on the NWT, as apparently the analysis has been done?
In the strategy, the federal government is encouraging provinces and territories to live up to the principles of their plan by doing different actions and activities in the Northwest Territories. These actually, I think, in many ways are similar to the territorial Anti-Poverty Action Plan, as it summarizes existing programs and funding commitments across the government, as well as with our partners throughout the Northwest Territories.
Once again, I am not the right person to talk about the federal plan. I am looking forward to seeing the presentation and working with our partners from across the Northwest Territories to continue addressing poverty here in the Northwest Territories.
Indicators are not measurements of poverty. They are indicators. It is something different. The indicators for food security shows that we have a pretty significant level of people who describe themselves as having moderate to severe food insecurity. Can the Minister tell us how the anti-poverty initiatives and funding in the NWT are made? Any improvement in this area?
The Government of the Northwest Territories is taking a whole-of-government approach when it comes to addressing poverty. Housing is doing an important thing. Income support is doing important things, as the Member highlighted within her Member's statement. ITI is doing important things. ENR. The government is working to create and support community gardens in every community in the Northwest Territories. The anti-poverty fund has also put money into different food programs throughout the Northwest Territories.
The federal government, obviously, has a role to play. We're hoping to see some positive results from the review of the food mail program. These are things that will help control costs, bring fresh produce, fresh products, to the Northwest Territories.
In the agricultural strategy, the Department of Health and Social Services is working to remove barriers so that individuals who are growing their own produce can sell it. That's our first step under that strategy. Our second step is to allow the sale of locally harvested foods and farm foods, so that these foods can be made available at a local level, and in a safe way.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for somebody who is hungry today, I'm not sure they're going to be thrilled that there's a whole-of-government response. That isn't going to meet any of their immediate needs. Not only that, many of the people who are hungry today have parents who are hungry, and grandparents who are hungry. There is a poverty trap where people are unable to exit to have enough to meet their needs to actually make a chance in their circumstances. Is the Minister aware of this problem, and what is he doing about it? Thank you.
I hate to inform the Member that I'm not new to this file, and I have been working on addressing poverty here in the Northwest Territories with partners from across the territory for a number of years. We did bring forward an NWT framework for addressing poverty in the Northwest Territories where there are multiple partners working to address these problems. The GNWT has also taken action, and I highlighted some of the things we're doing around food security here already.
On top of that, we also have the Anti-Poverty Fund, which is an application-based program. We have $1 million in that fund. A number of those recipients were organizations putting together kitchens and food programs so that they could get food into the mouths of those most at need. We are doing work in that area, but it's not just the Government of the Northwest Territories. We've really got to applaud the communities that are stepping up and doing work. The federal government, we are really interested to see how they move with food mail. We've got community gardens that are growing food, making produce. There are things that are happening. We're not saying it's perfect, Mr. Speaker. I would never be so naive to suggest we've got this one figured out and solved, but we are working with our partners to get it done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions following up on my statement are directed to the Minister of Infrastructure. My first question, Mr. Speaker: the Government of Canada's Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund has provided $23 million for our new energy programs in the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister provide a breakdown of the types of projects that funding will be used for and how the department plans to roll out the program? Mahsi.
Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund is intended to support provinces and territories that take action on climate change and reduce energy use and increase clean economic growth. Now, the federal government in our announcement that we did here a couple of weeks ago was they gave us $23 million, and we're complementing it with $7.4 million from the GNWT coffers. This investment will help enhance the existing Arctic Energy Alliance programs and services and the creation of new programs within that umbrella, including making energy upgrades more accessible to low-income-owner-occupied homes. Funding will also be used to retrofit Marine Transportation Service vessels and ferries to make them more efficient, and to support reforestation in the NWT to help in our quest for carbon neutrality.
Lastly, the funding will be used to support our new government greenhouse gas grant program for the development of community-based emissions reduction projects. I will note that, under this allocation, our allocation is $31 million, and the Government of Canada is currently considering our proposal for $8 million to set up a grant to target larger buildings and industrial greenhouse emissions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks for the response. My next question: can the Minister tell us how residents and businesses in the Sahtu can access this new funding to continue their work on energy efficiency and renewable energy?
As I mentioned, the Arctic Energy Alliance is expanding their programs and services, and residents and businesses and communities in the Sahtu and in the Member's riding can access these things. The programs will help residents and businesses in the Sahtu pay for switching to efficient wood stoves and pellet stoves along with renewable energy, solar systems. There's an Arctic Energy regional office in Norman Wells, and I encourage the residents of the Sahtu region and the communities in his riding to reach out and find out what programs are available to them.
The Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund is also supporting the Government Greenhouse Gas Grant which is an application grant program designed to support greenhouse gas emissions, reduction projects, and initiatives. NWT community governments, municipalities, and GNWT and Indigenous governments can apply, and there's a total of $1.8 million available annually over the next four years ending fiscal March 31, 2022.
I thank the Minister for that information. My last question, and I mentioned in my statement that Colville Lake solar project has been a relative success in demonstrating the use of renewable on a small diesel system. What are the next steps for other communities who want to advance their solar energy in the use in their communities?
The Department of Infrastructure also recently helped flow some federal dollars to the Tulita Land Corporation to build a 45 kilowatt solar farm. Under this arrangement, the community-owned land corporation will operate the system and sell clean power back to the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, and into the local grid. That's a great initiative taken on by the Tulita Land Corporation.
As I've spoken in this House before, in the Member's riding we're installing a wind monitoring station in Norman Wells this year to help us understand the feasibility and install renewable wind power to displace diesel fuel in those communities. We are also meeting with Wrigley and Fort Good Hope in the near future to discuss opportunities that integrate renewable energy into the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
